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John Thomas Biggers (1924-2001), African American artist, author, and educator, was born on April 13, 1924 to Paul and Cora Biggers in Gastonia, North Carolina, the youngest of seven children. He attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia and started taking art classes under the tutelage of Viktor Lowenfeld, but was drafted into the US Navy in 1943 and served until December 1945. Also in 1943, Biggers was featured in the exhibit

Young Negro Art at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Biggers returned to Hampton in 1946 for one semester, and when Lowenfeld moved to Pennsylvania State University (State College, Pennsylvania) in mid-1946, Biggers followed him to study in the art department there, receiving a Bachelor of Science in January 1948 and a Master of Science in September 1948. On December 27, 1948, Biggers married Hazel Hales, whom he had met at Hampton in 1942. Biggers received a doctoral degree in 1954 from Pennsylvania State University with a thesis entitled The Negro Woman in American Life and Education.

Biggers commenced a teaching career soon after obtaining his masters degree. In 1949, Biggers accepted a position as an instructor at Alabama State Teachers College in Montgomery, but moved to Houston, Texas, in August to establish and serve as department head of the Art Department at Texas State University for Negroes (later Texas Southern University), where he spent over thirty years of his career. Biggers published a book entitled

Black Art in Houston in 1978 with Carroll Simms and Edward Weems. He retired from teaching in 1983.

Biggers' first major works were the egg tempera paintings

Dying Soldier (1942), Community Preacher (1943), and U.S. Navy Mural (1945). The current locations of the first two works are unknown, and U.S. Navy Mural is currently disassembled. Biggers followed these works in the late 1940s with the murals, Burial, Sharecroppers, Baptism, Day of the Harvest, and Night of the Poor. The next phase in Biggers' career came with his move to Houston. In the 1950s Biggers produced Harvesters and Gleaners (1952), Contribution of Negro Women to American Life and Education (1953), History of Education in Morris County, Texas (1955), and History of the International Longshoremen's Local 872 (1957).

In developing his artistic projects, Biggers traveled extensively to learn about the African cultural experience. In 1957, John and Hazel spent six months on a United Nations fellowship traveling in Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, and Dahomey. He published

Ananse: The Web of Life in Africa, a book based on these travels, in 1962. A Danforth award in 1969 allowed John and Hazel to spend six months in Egypt, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana. In 1980, Biggers visited Haiti along with other Texas Southern faculty and also visited Amsterdam and Kenya in 1987, and attended the National Conference of Artists meetings in Dakar, Senegal (1984) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1988). After a United Nations-funded trip to Africa, Biggers began to incorporate more abstract and symbolic images and patterns in his work, starting with the transitional works Web of Life (1960), Red Barn Farm (1960), and Birth from the Sea (1966).

Biggers undertook a number of major mural projects throughout his career and in his later works, increased the scale of abstract iconography and began to incorporate quilted patterns in his murals. He produced a number of murals in Houston buildings, including

Family Unity (1974-1978), Quilting Party (1980-1981),Song of the Drinking Gourds (1987), East Texas Patchwork (1987), and a mural honoring Christia V. Adair, one of Houston's most important civil rights leaders.

Biggers returned to Gastonia in 1990, and was commissioned to complete two major mural projects. He completed

Ascension and Origins at the Winston-Salem State University library in North Carolina in 1991, and painted House of the Turtle and Tree House at Hampton University that same year. In 1994, he drew the illustrations for Maya Angelou's poem "Our Grandmothers," but suffered from declining health in the late 1990s. John Biggers died in 2001.
Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of the papers of John Biggers from 1950-2001. The papers include correspondence, photographs, printed material, professional materials, subject files, printed material, writings, and audiovisual material. The materials document his entire professional career, starting with his work at Hampton Institute, but the bulk of the material relates to his work at Texas Southern University. Correspondence includes Biggers' personal and professional correspondence with friends, colleagues, and former students especially documenting his relationship with mentor, Viktor Lowenfeld (1903-1960); his work as founder and dean of the Art Department at Texas Southern University; and his work as a muralist. The photographs and slides consist primarily of images Biggers used while researching and composing his murals, in addition to extensive documentation of his in-progress and finished works. Also included are photographs of events he attended or that were held in his honor and people involved in his life including friends, family, and collegues.

Printed material contains information about or collected by John Biggers. Included are calendars, clippings, newsletters and annual reports, pamphlets and programs, periodicals, and promotional materials that highlight Biggers' life and work. Biggers' work as an artist and as an educator is further documented by his professional material. Documents relating to John Biggers' work as an artist and arts advocate include planning and promotional material from a number of public exhibitions of Biggers' work as well as handwritten research notes on African art; financial documents about loans and sales of his work; artwork and sketches by Biggers and other artists; as well as a significant amount of material from Biggers' tenure as the head of the Art Department at Texas Southern University in Houston. Subject files contain materials on topics such as community projects as well as other professional endeavors such as invitations for speaking and art project opportunities.

Writings contain works by both by John Biggers and by others including Olive Theisen. The writings by Biggers consist of notes and typescript corrections of two of Biggers' books,

Ananse: The Web of Life in Africa (1979) and Black Art in Houston: The Texas Southern University Experience (1978). Also included in Biggers' writings are shorter works such as lectures, abstracts, and eulogies. Writings by others consist of longer works written about Biggers and his artwork, as well as unpublished essays and typescripts collected and read by Biggers. Of particular note are three typescript editions of Olive Theisen's The Murals of John Thomas Biggers: American Muralist, African-American Artist, an extensive collection and analysis of Biggers' murals. In later published editions, Biggers is listed as a co-author of the work; in this finding aid, all drafts are described under Theisen for continuity. Also included in writings is a typescript for Tales of Aunt Dicy, an annotated collection of Biggers' drawings of folk tales, as well as other shorter essays on Biggers, including John Biggers: American Muralist. There are also manuscripts of collected poetry, short stories, student essays, lectures, and an unidentified typescript on the Texas State University Arts Center. Audiovisual material consists of audiocassettes and VHS tapes of exhibits and commencement ceremonies as well as recordings on topics of interest to Biggers such as intrasound and animal rights.
Arrangement Note

The series consists of Biggers' personal and professional correspondence with friends, colleagues, and former students from 1946-2009. Primarily, the correspondence from 1946-1948 consists of letters from the military on allowances, pensions, and educational reimbursement. Of note is correspondence to and from Viktor Lowenfeld, an Austrian artist who mentored Biggers at the Hampton Institute in Virginia and later at Pennsylvania State University. There is a large amount of administrative correspondence from the 1960s and 1970s relating to Biggers' position as founder and head of the Art Department at Texas Southern University. These letters document topics including curriculum issues, conferences, and art exhibitions around the university. Also included throughout the series is a significant amount of material relating to Biggers' status as a "distinguished alumnus" of The Pennsylvania State University. There is also a large amount of correspondence with Olive Jensen Theisen from the 1990s, an Art Education professor and a friend of Biggers who published multiple books on his murals and drawings. There are also a number of condolence cards and letters sent to Hazel Biggers after John's death in 2001.

The series consists of photographs of John Biggers' artwork, events he attended or that were held in his honor, and his friends, family and colleagues from 1942-1998. Included in the series are a number of photographs of Biggers' paintings, drawings, and sculpture. There are many photographs of John Biggers' murals, including photographs of incomplete murals in progress, finished products, and close-ups of mural details. There are also photographs documenting his painting process, which show Biggers and other artists as they were creating and painting murals. Also included are photographs of openings and exhibitions of Biggers' works as well as unidentified events in homes, front yards, and churches, and a few images depicting Biggers' foreign travels, especially to Ghana and Egypt. Most of the photographs of people are of John and Hazel Biggers, although there are other photographs of identified and unidentified people, including some friends of relatives of John and Hazel. There are also negatives and slides of many of the printed photographs.

The series consists of printed material about or collected by John Biggers from 1936-2005. It includes calendars, clippings, newsletters and annual reports, pamphlets and programs, periodicals, and promotional materials. Calendars included in the series contain artwork by John Biggers or by other African American artists such as Paul Goodnight. Leaves from the work,

Lithographs for our Grandmothers include title pages and illustrations from the work, written by Maya Angelou. Clippings include articles about John Biggers and his work as well as annotated articles and articles that influenced his work. Newsletters and annual reports cover a number of organizations that Biggers was involved with including the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, the Fine Arts Society, the National Hampton Alumni Association, and Houston Municipal Art Commission. Pamphlets and programs document a number of exhibits, organizations, awards, and events. Periodicals contain articles about Biggers, including images of his artwork, or are otherwise annotated. Promotional material includes flyers, news releases, invitations, and other advertisements that highlight exhibits, lectures, receptions, and organizations
Arrangement Note

Arranged by printed material type, then in chronological or alphabetical order.

The series consists of John Biggers' professional files from 1921-2005. It documents his work as a professional artist as well as his career as an educator and administrator from 1921-2005. Material relating to John Biggers' work as an artist and arts advocate includes planning and promotional material from a number of public exhibitions of Biggers' work, especially the exhibition

The Art of John Biggers: View from the Upper Room in 1995. There are also handwritten research notes on African art, along with financial documents about the loan and sale of both African sculpture he collected for himself and others and Biggers' paintings. There are also sketches and drawings by Biggers as well as other artists. The series also contains awards and honors given to Biggers by universities and civic institutions. Material relating to Biggers' work as a teacher and university administrator includes classwork by his students, teaching aids, and reports from his time as Dean of the Art Department of Texas Southern University. There is also instructional material and information about former students as well as honorary degrees and commencement ceremony materials.
Arrangement Note

Organized into two subseries: (4.1) Artist materials and (4.2) Teaching

The subseries consists of material relating to John Biggers' work as an artist and arts advocate, 1951-2003. The subseries includes planning and promotional material from a number of public exhibitions of Biggers' work, and there is an especially large amount of material relating to the exhibition

The subseries consists of material relating to Biggers' work as a teacher and university administrator from 1943-1999. There is a significant amount of material from Biggers' tenure as the head of the Art Department at Texas Southern University in Houston, a program he founded, and there is also instructional material and biographical information about former students. Instructional records include art appreciation transparencies as well as notes by students. The subseries also contains a number of honorary doctoral degrees bestowed upon Biggers from Hampton University, Pennsylvania State University, and North Carolina State University as well as material relating to the commencement ceremonies at which they were presented. There is a small amount of material relating to National Endowment for the Humanities grants that he applied for as well as other grants including Preparing for Texas in the 21st Century and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The series consists of John Biggers' research on topics such as community projects as well as other professional endeavors such as invitations for speaking and art project opportunities from 1945-1997. Documents from organizations such as First Congregational United Church of Christ; Kid Care, Inc.; Washington Project for the Arts; and Hampton University are included. The series also includes research files on topics such as African American artists, writers, and African art, as well as collected materials on other artists and academics such as Maya Angelou and Edmund Gaither.

The series consists of writings both by John Biggers and by others including Olive Theisen who wrote extensively on John Biggers. The writings by Biggers consist of notes and corrected typescript drafts of two of Biggers books,

Ananse: The Web of Life in Africa (1979) and Black Art in Houston: The Texas Southern University Experience (1978). Also included in Biggers writings are lectures, abstracts, and eulogies. Writings by others consist of works written about Biggers and his artwork, as well as unpublished essays and typescripts collected and read by Biggers. Of particular note are three typescript editions of Olive Theisen's The Murals of John Thomas Biggers: American Muralist, African-American Artist, an extensive analysis of Biggers murals. In later published editions, Biggers is listed as a co-author of this work but in the finding aid, the work is described only under Theisen for continuity. There is also a typescript for Tales of Aunt Dicy, by J. Mason Brewer, an annotated collection of Biggers' drawings of folk tales, as well as other essays on Biggers, including "John Biggers: American Muralist." Also included by other authors are manuscripts of collected poetry, short stories, student essays, lectures, and an unidentified typescript on the Texas State University Arts Center.
Arrangement Note

The series consists of audiovisual material collected by John Biggers, including audiocassettes and VHS tapes that document exhibits and commencement ceremonies as well as recordings on topics of interest to John Biggers such as intrasound and animal rights.